


Comic Books

by imaturtle



Category: Marvel, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Other, San Diego Comic-Con, The Avengers - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-22
Updated: 2015-05-22
Packaged: 2018-03-31 19:00:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3989170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaturtle/pseuds/imaturtle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Usually love stories start with some sort of poem, or romantic quote. But this isn't a love story. So this story will not begin with a sappy quote, instead, it will start with a comic book. Age of Ultron #7, to be exact.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Comic Books

The strangest teens of all!

~X-men

The loud and persistent buzz from the intercom finally jostled me out from my nap. Somehow, I had fallen asleep at the counter. I'm sure I have a giant red mark on my forehead from where my head rested on the keyboard. I rub the sleep out of my eyes and adjust my glasses. With a yawn, I get up and go see what the buzzing was about.

I walk into my boss's office, Mr. Stark looks up. His name is Stark but he is no superhero, he's a chubby old guy fighting the evil recessive hairline.

"Ah, yes, Natasha, my dear. Did you have a nice nap?" He questions. I cross my arms uncomfortably and look down at the ground.

"I-I, uh sorry, Mr. Stark." I stammer.

He hums and hands me some papers. I take them and look them over. they're ordering forms, listing all the comic books we've ordered in the past few weeks.

"Look those over and send an email to the seller if they haven't come yet." He orders prior to taking a large gulp of coffee. I push my glasses back up to sit in their proper spot and nod. For some reason, Mr. Stark intimidates me. Well, it's easy to intimidate a shy, insecure, comic book nerd.

I exit his office and notice quite a rush out in the store. Three customers stand looking at new arrivals, one of them turns when I exit Mr. Stark's office.

"Can I help you find anything?" I ask awkwardly after a long silence. The shortest of the three boys answers, "Have you gotten the new Age of Ultron in yet?"

I come around the side of the counter and lead them over to the Marvel section. I show them to the first seven in the series and they thank me quietly. I return to my desk without another sound.

I watch the three boys from the corner of my eye as they mill around the store. Every once in a while, they laugh about some hilarious thing before going back to browsing. I push my glasses back up the ridge of my nose and check our stock how Mr. Stark instructed me to. I'm in the middle of an impatient email when the three boys approach the pay counter.

I turn around in my chair and scan the barcode on the comic books they placed in front of me.

"This s'all?" I ask.

The one who spoke earlier responds, "That's it," prior to pulling out a few dollar bills to pay with.

I notice he bought Age of Ultron #7 and try to make small talk.

"I'm assuming you've read the first six, right?" I ask nonchalantly.

The boy with dark hair nods and the smallest boy says, "Only about a billion times."

I smile and nervously push my glasses up my nose. The "nerdiest" of the three boys mimics my action, pushing his own glasses up.

"I'm Zayn," says the dark haired boy,"this is Liam and Louis." He gestures to his friends in turn and I nod.

I point to my small metal badge, "Natasha."

"Romanoff?" Asks Louis.

"Not quite." I respond with a giggle.

I might've even blushed.

\---

His first name is "Agent."

~Tony Stark/Iron Man

I literally went to the boy's department to buy comic book shirts. It just kind've happened, I wasn't aware that I was in the boy's section, I was just drawn to the shirts they had. The cashier looked at me funny when I went to pay for them.

Of course I wore one of them to work the next day. The one I wore had Ironman on the front, styled to look like he was flying right out of his comic book. I tied my golden curls back in a ponytail and did my usual light makeup.

The store was deserted all day long. No one came in until about fifteen minutes before we closed. And guess who came in?

The three boys who were here a few days ago.

"Can I help you find anything?" I ask after they mill around for a few minutes.

"Yes, actually, that would be great." Louis, I think, says.

"Whatcha looking for?" I come around the counter.

"Um, Legendary Star-Lord #2." He says.

"That just came out yesterday, I don't know if we have it in yet." I say, then taking a loom over our new arrival section.

"Dammit, I wanted to read it before we go to the movies and see Guardians of the Galaxy." Louis says.

"Shoot, I'm sorry. Anything else?"

Liam shakes his head. Zayn just frowns.

"I like your shirt." Liam says. I smile and look down at it. It does look pretty badass.

"Thanks, I just got it yesterday." I say.

"It's pretty cool." He agrees.

In an effort to make small talk, I say,"Are you guys going to Comic-Con? It's suppose to be pretty awesome this year."

They shake their heads then Louis asks me if I have tickets.

"Sadly, I don't." I frown and go back behind my counter.

"Well, we should get going. Bye, Natasha." Liam says, basically pulling Louis away by his ear.

My phone rings. I answer it while locking the front door.

"Hello?"

"Tasha, guess what!" My best and possibly only friend, Natalie, says.

"X-Men and Avengers crossover movie?" I ask.

"No. Better." She says.

"Better than Tony Stark and Logan Howlett making snide remarks and being badasses together?" I ask.

"Are tickets to Comic-Con better than Ironman and Wolverine." I ask, disbelieving.

"Why yes. Yes they certainly are."

\---

Holy Cow, Batman!

~Robin

"I think that you, me, and my brothers just got tickets to Comic-Con." Natalie says, clearly in shock.

"I can't believe this. How'd you get them?" I ask.

She says, "I won them on the radio. Dude asked who created Marvel Comics. Easy-peasy."

"Is it, now?" I laugh. I'm so happy right now, I can't even begin to explain how amazing this is.

"Stan Lee. Ever heard?" She asks. I can faintly hear her brothers yelling in the background.

"Hmm, I think I've heard of him." Sarcastically, of course, I respond.

We laugh. Then, a serious thought comes to me.

"Natalie, what on earth are we gonna wear?" Worry trickles through my voice. The costumes are possibly the best part of Comic-Con. We can't be amateur, we have to be pros.

"I could be Black Widow!" We say at exactly the same time. I frown.

"No, I called it." We say in unison again.

"Neither of us will be Black Widow, then. Let's not argue." I say. With much hesitation, Natalie agrees. I hate arguing with people.

"I'll be Storm, then." She says halfheartedly.

"Who should I be?" I ask.

"You could be Wonder-Woman or Cat-Woman or something like that." Natalie suggests. I really wanted to be Black Widow.

"Yeah, I'll think of something. Who are your brothers gonna be?"

"Jason is gonna be some anime character and I think Peter is gonna be King Peter from those Narnia movies." Natalie tells me.

"Awesome." I say, still slightly upset about the whole Black Widow thing. We say our goodbyes and hang up.

I close the store and put on my jacket, it's supposed to get chilly tonight. Well, it's never really that cold in San Diego. Nevertheless, I head across the street and get in my car.

When I get home, all I can think about is Comic-Con.

\---

I still believe in heroes.

~Nick Fury

Guess who came into the shop today. You guessed it, Liam, Louis and Zayn came in. For some reason, I couldn't help myself from telling them about Comic-Con.

"That's actually really funny, because we got tickets, too." Zayn scratches at the nape of his neck and looks at the ground in shyness.

"No way." I lean back in my computer chair, grinning.

"We brought them so we could show you." Louis pulls the crumpled pieces of paper out of his pocket. He flattens them and that's when I realize he's holding four tickets.

"Four?" I question, Liam nudges Louis.

"We were, um, going to ask, uh, ask if you would want, maybe, if you-" Zayn cuts him off, "We were gonna ask if you wanted to come to Comic-Con with us."

"I'm flattered, but I already got tickets." I frown. I drop Zayn's gaze after a few seconds.

"We were also gonna ask if you wanted to come see Guardians of the Galaxy with us, tonight." Liam says.

I don't have anything going on tonight, so a movie sounds good.

"That'd be cool, I close shop here at six."

"There's a showing at 6:15PM, we could go to that one." Zayn suggests.

"Yeah, yeah let's do it." I say, Louis smiles massively, and maybe a light blush? He seems sweet, but Zayn and Liam do all the talking around me. I've never made anyone, much less a boy, feel nervous around me.

\---

I am Groot.

~Groot

Natalie came to the shop today to discuss what we're going to wear. I'm still upset she wouldn't let me be Black Widow. She found a costume online and I guess she's gonna dye her hair silver for the day. I'm still deciding.

"If you don't decide quick, Im'ma replace your undecided ass." Natalie jokes, but something in her voice tells me she's serious. I gulp.

"I'll find something, don't worry." I reassure her, although it doesn't reassure myself. There's no one else I wanted to be but Black Widow, and it was really beginning to upset me.

"My brothers have already made their costumes. It's in a week, Tasha!" She says. I can tell she's getting very frustrated with me.

"I can be Black Widow." I say. She rolls her eyes and leaves without another word. Must be her time of the month.

Not even ten minutes later, Zayn, Liam, and Louis come into the store, talking all about Comic-Con and their costumes.

I overhear that Zayn is gonna be batman, Liam is paying Louis to spray paint him green to be the Hulk, and Louis is gonna be Deadpool.

"Hey guys." I say when they come to the checkout counter. Louis immediately smiles while paying for his comic books.

"Hi Natasha." He says. I try not to blush.

"What are you dressing up as for Comic-Con?" Liam asks me and at that moment I know. Something clicks inside of me, and I no longer care how pissed off Natalie will be.

I am Natalia Alianovna Romanova.

I am Natalie Rushman.

I am Laura Matthers.

I am Natasha Romanoff.

I am Oktober.

I am Yelena Belova.

"I am Black Widow."

\---

"The truth is...I am Ironman."

~Tony Stark/Ironman

"That's awesome! Are you gonna dye your hair?" Zayn questions immediately. He looks at my short blonde hair.

"We'll see I suppose." I shrug my shoulders and give Louis his receipt.

The boys leave and Mr. Stark calls me into his office.

"Yes Mr. Stark?" I ask upon entering. He's wearing a striped polo and sweatpants with his black dress shoes.

"Can you pick up my dry cleaning?" He takes a sip from his pop and hands me his dry cleaning ticket.

"Who'll watch the front?" I ask.

"Well, I guess I will." Mr. Stark responds sharply. I take his slip and hurry out of his office. I hate making him mad because he holds a grudge.

I walk two blocks to the dry cleaners and go inside.

"I'm picking some things up for Stark." I say, handing the older woman at the counter the dry cleaning slip.

She eyes me then goes in the back to get his order. She comes back minutes later and hands me his things, wrapped in plastic to keep from getting dirty.

"Thanks." I mumble.

I turn to leave but I'm startled to see Natalie walk in. She breezes past me, a certain light of anger in her eyes, and goes to the counter. I face her and she leaves me in the dark.

"Nat?" I call out to her. She turns rigid and faces me. I gulp.

"Yes?"

"Are you mad?" I ask sheepishly.

"No, of course I'm not mad at my so-called best friend for telling me she wouldn't be Black Widow then purposely being Black Widow anyway." She says, turning red in the face.

"What are you talking about?"

"Those three boys you're always hanging out with told me what you were going as for Comic Con. I can tell you right now I'm not going with a traitor. You can find someone else to go with, I'm giving your ticket to Samantha." She says sharply, each word showing more and more anger. I gulp, she's not taking me to Comic-Con anymore.

"Samantha's a bitch anyway, I hope you have fun!" I say sarcastically. I leave quickly after that.

It hits me then and there. My childish dream of going to Comic-Con has been un-granted.

\---

Smash!  
.  
~The Hulk

"Damn," I whisper on my way back to the store. I'm holding Mr. Stark's dry cleaning over my shoulder.

When I get back, three faces greet me with bright smiles.

"Natasha. These boys were asking for you and I told them to buy something or leave." Mr. Stark sounds blatantly annoyed.

"So I bought a keychain." Louis smiles and holds up a tiny Captain America shield.

"I'll take over." I tell Mr. Stark, handing him his dry cleaning.

He goes to his office and I take my spot at the cashier's desk. Louis, Zayn, and Liam must've seen the look on my face because they question what's wrong.

"Natalie ditched me." I say.

Zayn and Liam look at each other then back to me.

"Why?" Zayn asks. 

"Because someone told her I was gonna be Black Widow, and we had both agreed not to cosplay as her because we both wanted to." I explain. Louis gulps.

"What'd you do?" I inquire. Louis bites his lip.

"He was bragging about going with the prettiest Black Widow cosplayer ever. I guess Natalie heard and knew we were talking about you." Zayn explains when Louis stays silent.

"'Prettiest Black Widow cosplayer' eh?" I ask, a smile forming on my lips. Louis blushes and turns away.

"Yeah, don't tell him I told you but he's got a proper crush on you." Liam says loud enough for Louis to hear. They all joke about it for a minute then return to my problem.

"We still have one unused ticket, if you want it." Louis mutters.

"Well, that'd be lovely."

\---

I was having 12% of a moment.

~Pepper Potts

I don't know if it was the bouncing of my newly dyed hair or the loud music blasting over the speakers. Even though I've always been shy, I felt the eyes of everyone on me and my tight leather body suit. I found my friends almost immediately: Deadpool, Batman, and the Hulk.

I slide trough the crowd easily, everyone parts as I pass. Louis's jaw hits the floor, I can tell even from behind the Deadpool mask. Zayn lifts his mask and stares in awe.

"Natalia Romanoff, reporting for duty." I say. Liam compliments my costume and we all go over to enter in the costume contest. I probably won't win, but oh well.

"Did you see Natalie?" Liam asks.

"No, why? Did you?" I ask him.

"Yeah, you won't believe it." Zayn adds. Louis hasn't said a thing since I arrived. I guess it's true what Liam and Zayn said about this crush.

"Well hey there Natasha!" Speak of the devil.

"Hey Natalie we were just talking about y-" I stop talking as soon as I see her costume.

She's wearing dollar store costume.

And she's Black Widow.

She obviously bought the cheap red hair spray paint. Mine was professionally done.

Her bodysuit is black fabric with paper symbols and buttons sewed on. Mine was over one hundred dollars and it's real leather.

Her makeup looks like a twelve year old found a tube of lipstick. My mom did mine (hey, don't judge!)

"Oh, were you?" She asks, leaning closer to show off her fake cleavage. Surprisingly enough, I had some good girls under the boys t-shirts.

"Yeah, we were." Zayn says, clearing annoyed.

"Okay Batman," she sneers his name, "I'll just get going now"

"Yeah, you do that." Louis speaks up, stepping to my side.

"She's really a bitch, you know." Louis whispers once she's gone.

"Yeah, I know."

"One more thing." Louis leans in and I close my eyes, anticipating a kiss.

"Hail Hydra."

\---

The Avengers panel just ended and we all decided to go grab something to eat and wait for the costume contest winner to be revealed.

I'm betting on Louis, he's the best cosplayer I've seen so far and his costume is genius.

"I'm betting on Deadpool." I whisper to him in between sips of my milkshake.

"I still can't believe I was that close to Robert Downey Jr." Liam speaks, still in a daze.

"I feel ya, bro." I rub his arm, comforting him from his post-panel-depression.

We finish eating our cheap foods and make our way through the crowd of people pooling over by the stage.

They're doing honorable mentions when we walk up.

"Now if you'd all put your hands together, we do indeed have a winner." The man says into the microphone. everyone claps.

"The winner is...Louis Tomlinson as Deadpool!"

I realize how beautiful this is. I met three lifelong best friends and I'll never forget this experience. I'm sure Louis never will, either.

I guess what I'm trying to say is don't change to be friends with fake people. You don't want to act fake in a fake relationship with other fake people. Comic-Con really brings out the best in people.

But I guess it also brings out the worst.

Zayn is an amazing Batman.

I'm an amazing Black Widow.

Liam is an amazing Hulk.

And of course Louis is an amazing Deadpool.

He won an award, after all.

He turns to me, pure happiness in his eyes. I don't know what im doing until it happens. I kiss him, luckily he pulled his mask off before the winner was chosen. He looks so good without his glasses.

This is just the beginning.

Unfortunately, all relationships need privacy. Four best friends were made and two of them might even be more than friends.

I guess I was wrong when I said this wasn't a love story. It didn't begin with a sappy poem or quote, this love story began with Age of Ultron.

And it ended with four teenagers, and their love of comic books.


End file.
